distant across the plain, to tell Elisha, and to bring him with her to
Shunem. There, in the “prophet’s chamber,” the dead child lay; and Elisha
entering it, shut the door and prayed earnestly: and the boy was restored
to life (2 Kings 4:8-37). This woman afterwards retired during the famine
to the low land of the Philistines; and on returning a few years afterwards,
found her house and fields in the possession of a stranger. She appealed to
the king at Samaria, and had them in a somewhat remarkable manner
restored to her (comp. 2 Kings 8:1-6).
- SHUR an enclosure; a wall, a part, probably, of the Arabian desert, on the
north-eastern border of Egypt, giving its name to a wilderness extending
from Egypt toward Philistia (Genesis 16:7; 20:1; 25:18; Ex.15:22). The
name was probably given to it from the wall (or shur) which the Egyptians
built to defend their frontier on the north-east from the desert tribes. This
wall or line of fortifications extended from Pelusium to Heliopolis. - SHUSHAN a lily, the Susa of Greek and Roman writers, once the capital
of Elam. It lay in the uplands of Susiana, on the east of the Tigris, about
150 miles to the north of the head of the Persian Gulf. It is the modern
Shush, on the northwest of Shuster. Once a magnificent city, it is now an
immense mass of ruins. Here Daniel saw one of his visions (Daniel 8); and
here also Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1) began his public life. Most of the events
recorded in the Book of Esther took place here. Modern explorers have
brought to light numerous relics, and the ground-plan of the splendid
palace of Shushan, one of the residences of the great king, together with
numerous specimens of ancient art, which illustrate the statements of
Scripture regarding it (Daniel 8:2). The great hall of this palace (Esther 1)
“consisted of several magnificent groups of columns, together with a
frontage of 343 feet 9 inches, and a depth of 244 feet. These groups were
arranged into a central phalanx of thirty-six columns (six rows of six each),
flanked on the west, north, and east by an equal number, disposed in
double rows of six each, and distant from them 64 feet 2 inches.” The
inscriptions on the ruins represent that the palace was founded by Darius
and completed by Artaxerxes. - SHUSHAN-EDUTH lily of the testimony, the title of Psalm 60. (See
SHOSHANNIM.) - SIBBECAI the Lord sustains, one of David’s heroes (1 Chronicles 11:29),
general of the eighth division of the army (27:11). He slew the giant Saph